The French restaurant Brasserie Cicou is located in Greenhills in San Juan. It is right beside Istituto Culinario at the ground floor of OB Montessori school.The Owner. Paris-born owner Chef Cyrille Soenen is a long-time Manila resident. CiÇou is Chef Cyrille Soenen’s childhood nickname.Chef Cyrille, a veteran of several two-starred Michelin restaurants in Paris is concurrently also the Executive Chef of Maxim Hotel’s Impressions Restaurant (inside Resort World Manila), the country’s newest French haute cuisine destination. Chef Cyril Soenen used to own the Restaurant CiÇou at the Hotel Celeste on Pasay Road in Makati City. But CiÇou in Makati closed in 2010 to the disappointment of chef Cyril’s fans. So calling all chef Cyril’s followers, CiÇou has reopened as Brasserie Cicou in Greenhills, San Juan.

The Settings. Brasserie CiÇou is elegant in interiors. It has a rustic settings with a green twist. Brasserie CiÇou used recycled wine bottles as lighting.

The Food. We were served with a sardine recipe concocted by chef Cyril Soenen himself of Prince Albert fame.

At Brasserie CiÇou, chef Cyril Soenen uses fresh tawilis that he personally buys from the market. The sardines is marinated with olive oil, served with goat cheese espuma and black olive powder. The dish bursts with freshness in your mouth that you will remember it for days and even wish to imitate it at home.

The name "sardines" is a collective term that generally refers to small members of the herring family, although this can vary by region. They're typically oily fish with a high fat content, but are also good sources of vitamins and minerals. Most sardines are canned but they can also be cooked fresh.

Fresh sardines are a much-appreciated delicacy. If you get them fresh, you are guaranteed deliciousness. And if fresh sardines are on a restaurant’s menu, you can more often than not be sure they were purchased that morning because they rot easily and don’t freeze well.

Fresh Salad

Bite-size Boudin Noir Parmentier is blood sausage on mashed potatoes.

Bouillabaisse is a fish and seafood stock boiled and reduced served with prawns, fish fillet and marble potatoes.

Bite-size Onglet Poeler (US Beef Hanger Steak)

Chocolate and Vanilla Canelle Dessert

Kouing aman (koo-ing ah-mon)

Egg Cocotte with Squash Foam is basically an egg cooked in cocotte or ceramic vessel served with squash foam.

The staff. The restaurant has casually clad wait staff dressed in shorts and short-sleeved shirts.